The Iranian government's move to accept cryptocurrency payments from cargo ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz is consistent with its existing trade networks that circumvent sanctions. This development has been confirmed by a spokesperson for Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union, who stated that bitcoin is now an accepted payment method. Previous reports suggested that stablecoins were being used to allow certain oil tankers to pass through unharmed, with a fee of $1 per barrel of oil.
The formalization of a cryptocurrency-based system for shipping toll payments appears to be a bold move, yet it aligns with the Iranian regime's increasing use of cryptocurrency to facilitate cross-border trade, particularly in oil sales, as per data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. According to Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis, it is unsurprising that such trade would occur via cryptocurrency. A review of sanctioned activities over the past year and a half reveals a growing and complex network utilizing crypto wallets.
In December 2024, a U.S.-sanctioned IRGC-affiliated financier linked to the Iran-backed Houthi regime facilitated Iranian oil sales to Yemen involving cryptocurrency addresses, totaling over $178 million in transfers within a year. In April 2025, a broader network of Houthi financiers purchased weapons and commodities from Russia using cryptocurrency addresses included in a sanctions designation, accounting for nearly a billion dollars in activity within a year.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed armed group controlling much of northern Yemen, have proposed imposing a second chokepoint on the world's oil and gas shipping trade at the Bab-al-Mandeb channel. The IRGC-affiliated networks are using crypto at a commercial scale to facilitate cross-border trade, according to Fierman. This system is more complex and established than just a few wallets being used perpetually.
The IRGC has a network of cryptocurrency wallets to facilitate cross-border activity, making it easier to accept crypto payments than using the traditional banking system, and they don't need cryptocurrency exchanges due to sufficient liquidity. The Iranian regime's adoption of cryptocurrency, particularly stablecoins, as a payment mechanism for cross-border trade is the inverse of North Korea's situation, where the primary goal is stealing and laundering billions of dollars in crypto.
The Iranian regime has been comprehensively sanctioned since 1979, including individual sanctions on almost every bank, making it challenging for them to access U.S. dollar-pegged assets and trade internationally. The ability to obtain a U.S.
dollar-pegged asset creates a mechanism for them to trade globally with anyone willing to trade with them, using an alternative mechanism that doesn't rely on the traditional banking system. Tom Keatinge, founding director of the Centre for Finance and Security at UK defence think tank RUSI, agreed that USD-backed stablecoins have become an essential payment mechanism for the Iranian regime, avoiding sanctions and Western banking controls. Lee Reiners, a lecturing fellow at Duke University's Financial Economics Center, suggested that Iran could further its sanctions-skirting stablecoin goals by demanding payment in USD1, a stablecoin launched by the Trump family-affiliated World Liberty Financial in March 2025.